Maybe it's time for some "Compassionate Liberalism" re: Rush

[dolo amber]

I have read all the Rush posts over the last few days, and as much as I loathe his politics, I just can't be silent regarding this matter.

I have been through narcotics withdrawl. Several times. I have been through recovery. I am STILL and presumably will forever be in recovery. It is a nightmare I wouldn't wish on my mortal enemy. The physical torture one experiences during withdrawl is something I imagine being akin to being burned alive. Every nerve ending in your body feels as though it's being split open with a razor blade and acid poured onto it. You ache, sweat, cramp, freeze, shake, vomit,and have uncontrollable bowel movements. You don't sleep. AT ALL. Even after the drug is primarily out of your system (72-ish hours) the symptoms and sleeplessness can last for weeks. Every cell in your body screams for release from this agony.

Then comes the mental/psychological aspect. YOU KNOW just one pill/shot of your drug will free you from all of this pain. YOU KNOW how easy it would be to leave the house/hospital/rehab center and end the torture. But if you seriously want to be clean, you also know that you can't. To be faced with a decision such as that whilst at the same time experiencing the torment of withdrawl is enough to make suicide look mighty sweet.

I despise Rush Limbaugh. I think he has likey done irreprable damage to this country's mindset. But to rejoice that a person, ANY person, is enduring this torture is not right. It makes me sad to see the *supposed* good guys, the ones who believe in helping others in need, cheering for what this poor bastard is facing.

Maybe if this issue didn't hit so close to home it wouldn't upset me so much. And I'm not saying we should all send flowers. I'd just like to see a little more understanding from our side. :(

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I agree

Personally, I feel sorry for Rush and for O'Reilly (who I see as a paranoid person with delusions of granduer). I wouldn't wish their private hells on anyone.

I do know that from suffering comes insight. From pain can come compassion. Let us keep an open mind and heart about Rush. He could change for the better, and I hope he does.

[La_Serpiente]

2. I see what you mean and totally agree

Although Rush is a terrible person, he deserves to at least keep some of his dignity. I don't want to steal that from him.

All I hope is that Rush learns from this experience. Hey, maybe he'll become a liberal. But if he doesn't learn, then he can take his dignity and shove it up his ass.

But it is the frailty of the human condition that I see in Rush.

I also hope you get better also.

[flamingyouth]

3. My mother is a recovering addict

She and I were talking about this very thing yesterday. While he is just about the world's biggest hypocritical creep, we feel uncomfortable jumping up and down with glee over his addiction. It's something he would do, and frankly, I'd like to distance myself far, far away from any of his cruel actions. I think it's kind of like being glad someone got cancer.

Thank you for your thoughtful post, and best of luck to you.

[Blue-Jay]

4. It's not rejoicing in the torture of rehab.

I wouldn't wish that on ANYbody, even Limbaugh.

The bit that has made me happy is catching that turd in the act of criminal hypocracy. How many times has he voiced his support of "the War on Drugs"? How many times has he advocated mandatory sentencing for illegal drug users? How much compassion has he shown for others in similar situations to his own?

Savage Weiner has shown what he's made of, and is now relegated to obscurity. Rush has now done the same and is looking at possible jail time. (Jail time that I'm opposed to, for what it's worth). The right-wing talking head douchebags have for too long claimed to have the moral high ground, and that facade is crumbling. THAT is the reason to rejoice, not someone's pain.

At least that's my take on it.

[Kamika]

5. See this is the difference between us and the repubs

We actually have posts where we say stuff like..

"Is it really right to gloat?"

Or "stop posting that we are smarter because we are not"

Now can anyone even in their wildest imagination see posts like these on FR ??


Thats why we lose



I am happy that Rush is addicted to pain killers, im happy that he suffers, and im REALLY happy that hes been exposed as the hypocrit that he is. My only regret is that he isnt caught on anything harder so he would suffer somemore. But atleast his back injury is bound to be bad.

How that for compassionate

[Barad Simith]

7. she took my answer (nt)

[Champion Jack]

9. I agree with your post Kamika

[roughsatori]

6. He allegedly broke the law and committed a felony

The fact that he will never see the jail time that he promotes for others is outrageous. He is a hypocrite and will receive not a drop of sympathy for this recovering addict.


Any person in the USA who was convicted of buying with intent to sell (which is what the charge would be for the quantities he is alleged to have illegally bought) would go to jail if convicted. Even if they had a clean record, unless they turned in others via a deal.

He is rich enough and powerful enough that it was just announced that Law enforcement officials and his lawyers agreed to let him finish rehab before they interview him. He is receiving special treatment and it disgusts me. Also his entering treatment was engineered by his attorneys to keep him out of jail. You make the assumption that he sincerely wants recovery and is a victim--neither of which I agree with.

A Friend of mine who was on Methadone was arrested, the police refused to put him in a detox, he had a stroke in jail from which he still suffers. Yet the white rich man who promote hard time for others is given sypathy and time to "heal."

I hope that he is investigated and given long hard time if he is convicted. I will laugh the day he enters prison--unless he is permitted to broadcast his show from Sing-Sing.

[Deja Q]

19. Well said

But, We The People need to stand up and go into the streets to fight the inequity that celebrities and the wealthy receive. We must fight and the namby-pamby shoving of a piece of paper into a box (called voting) makes no difference any more.

All we need is a leader with the charisma to get everybody going.

[radwriter0555]

8. maybe it's time to just not give a shit.

Oh, I did it!

[Ratty]

10. Nope

I'm not normally vindictive, but the pig deserves everything he's getting. Just browse through some of his transcripts sometime and read a few of the crass, hateful things he's said about various individuals. Remember his comments about Chelsey Clinton? He personally attacks individuals in a very public manner. Limbaugh is an entertainer, playing the role of journalist and political commentator (just like Ann Coulter). He makes his living entertaining the lowest underbelly of our society by appealing to their basest instincts. I say if he can't stand the heat then get outta that kitchen.

Now there are certain pretty evil individuals that have been the targets of attacks and derision for mistakes that they have made--recently in fact--and yet I manage to find some semblance of sympathy for them, and have been of the opinion that all of the attention focussed on them has been unfair. And I certainly do not think that Rush is the most vile man on earth. But his career of sitting on a very high horse, looking down on everybody else and publicly deriding them, pouncing on every mistake, real or imaginary, makes him an extremely tempting and legitimate target.

[NightTrain]

11. I might bring myself to feel sorry for Limbaugh...

...once he finishes picking the peanuts out of my shit.

FUCK YOU, RUSH, YOU HYPOCRITICAL BAG OF PUKE!!! :nopity: :nuke:

[Iris]

12. sorry. Tough Love is underrated.

I can't help but think how much harm he has caused this nation. Basically, his fans have been sitting around listening to the raging of an addict. In fact, they need to be treated as enablers and co-dependents.

[Blue-Jay]

13. No.

Without knowing the extent of his "problem", I don't see how his followers (misguided as they are) could be considered to be enablers. That being said, I still consider them to be dumbasses.

[Iris]

14. well, having been around a few addicts in my time,

I think the signs were there.

But I guess since they are dumbasses, it's too much to expect them to figure it out.

[Blue-Jay]

20. I don't know about the "signs" being there.

Maybe so, maybe not. As you well know, the more (shoot me for making this admission) intelligent an addict is, the easier time they have of hiding their addiction and fooling those closest to them.

Limbaugh, pompous douchebag that he is, is no dummy. He's a liar, a hate-monger and poster boy for birth control, but he's not stupid. It was probably easy for him to appear lucid and unaffected by illegally-gotten drugs, especially if you didn't expect that sort of behaviour from him.

My "compassionate" message for pigboy: I hope your rehab is successful. I hope you kick your habit with as little physical pain as possible. I also hope you're prosecuted and jailed, in the same manner as you frequently advocated on your radio show, and in accordance with Florida drug laws. Reap what you sow, you sack of crap. It's your own petard you're being hoisted by. Maybe (God willing) you'll see the true error of your ways.

[Lars39]

15. The Rush's, Hannity's etc have been propped up and promoted

to get where they are. They didn't rise to fame by accident; they have been pushed on the airwaves and been very well compensated for their propaganda efforts. They FULLY know what kind of sick crap they've been disseminating, and they'v been around long enough to see their efforts brought to fruition. Rush especially has more than enough money to live on for the rest of his life. So why did he continue to help destroy democracy? Lives have been lost because of their diatribes and posturing.

[Iris]

16. nicely said

[Droopy]

17. I have no sympathy for Rush

How much damage is this man responsible for? How much hatred has spewed forth out of that man's mouth and been swallowed up by the masses. Whatever he has to go through to kick is just a small dose of what he deserves. If there is a hell, he'll be there.

I've known pain in my life. The kind that made me think that suiucide was an option. Maybe if Rush gets a taste of that kind of pain it'll change him.

[Deja Q]

18. I see both sides of the issue, checkout the boldface talking point...

But all I think of right now is that Rush should go where he (used to think) all people who illegally bought drugs should go - PRISON for several years. And we know his sh-, er, d-ittohead followers won't brand him or his ideal as two-faced or hypocritical.

Yes, in theory, we should all feel sorry for Rush.

But we're also human; we feel all sorts of vile things to that guy for his own pomposity and hatred. It's natural to feel the same hatred for him in return.

But Rush wants people to listen to HIM and not think for themselves.

I'm sure that Rush wants homosexuals who have AIDS to suffer and die in pain, he's just bright enough not to say it in public.

And we all know he thinks of himself as being better than everyone else. That much is indisputable.

However, Rush will turn around and call us liberals all two-faced hypocrites if we don't feel compassion. More hypocrisy on his part, but his people are too stupid to think for themselves anyway.

Besides, we're in an ideological war. He is our mortal enemy and the enemy of advanced civilization.

Fuck him. (and not in the good way)

[democracyindanger]

21. Compassionate Liberalism is redundant

And as far as Rush goes, karma's a bitch.